The 80-year-old leader’s death sets the stage for a leadership race during the Party’s National Congress in 2026.
Thousands of people across Vietnam paid their last respects to Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the most powerful leader the country has seen in decades, before his funeral ceremony and burial.
The 80-year-old, who died in hospital in the capital Hanoi last week, had led the party since 2011 and oversaw a high-profile anti-corruption campaign that swept the party, police, military and businesses.
On Friday, people dressed in black lined up in the capital, Hanoi, to see the leader before he was buried at Mai Dich Cemetery, the final resting place of many important leaders in Vietnam.
Images on social media showed his hearse parading through the streets of the capital before the burial.
Trong’s coffin, draped in the red and yellow colors of the Vietnam flag, has been placed beneath his smiling portrait and dozens of medals at the National Funeral Home in Hanoi since Thursday.
At least 210,000 people paid tribute to their leader in ceremonies in Hanoi, south of Ho Chi Minh City, and in his village on the outskirts of the capital, authorities said.
Senior Communist Party officials paid tribute, including President To Lam, who took over as acting general secretary the day before Trong’s death was announced.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo; Wang Huning, the fourth leader of the Chinese Communist Party; former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga; and the president of the Cuban National Assembly, Esteban Lazo Hernandez, were also present during a ceremony on Thursday.
All flags across the country were flown at half-mast, while entertainment and sporting events were suspended during the period of mourning.
Trong enjoyed remarkable longevity in office, during a tenure that rights groups say coincided with the rise of authoritarianism.
He was previously praised by US President Joe Biden as “a champion of deep ties” between Vietnam and the United States, while Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed him as a “true friend of Russia”.
Trong, who studied in the Soviet Union from 1981 to 1983, was the first head of the Vietnamese Communist Party to visit the White House. He advocated a pragmatic foreign policy of “bamboo diplomacy,” a phrase he coined that refers to the flexibility of the factory, which bends but does not break in the headwinds of geopolitics.
With his death, the stage is set for a leadership race at the party’s national congress in 2026.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
